What Do I Know? Archives - Pittsburgh Quarterly

People Profiles

2026 Summer What Do I Know?

What Do I Know? Stewart O’Nan

As a novelist, I’m drawn to characters who are not famous, accomplished, or visible. And yet, two of the books I’ve written — one about F. Scott Fitzgerald and another about a serial killer who sells a story to Stephen King — are one or more of these things. So, I’m all over the place …

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What Do I Know? Dr. Kathy Humphrey

I was tenth in a family of 12 children. My mother was a secretary and seamstress. My father was a bricklayer who was in the Army and stationed in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he met my mother. This was at the time of “Jim Crow” and, after my father’s discharge from the service, my parents moved …

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What Do I Know? David Holmberg

I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where my father did factory work for General Electric and Westinghouse. My mother was a nurse. We never starved, but we didn’t have a lot. We were just a middle-class, fundamentally stable family. And the expectation in our home always was: If you wanted more, you had to do …

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What Do I Know? Dr. José-Alain Sahel

I was born in Tlemcen, Algeria, a small city on the border with Morocco. My family is Jewish, of Spanish ancestry, and had been in Algeria for centuries. Both sides of my family were poor and struggled often just to eat. My grandfather on my father’s side was severely injured during World War II and …

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People Profiles

What Do I Know? Stanley Druckenmiller

I was born in 1953 in Philadelphia and grew up in New Jersey and Virginia. By the eighth grade, I had attended six public schools before being enrolled at a private day school in the ninth grade. My father, who was a chemistry major in college, worked for Dupont and ended up in labor relations. …

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People Profiles

What Do I Know? Rev. Paul Abernathy

One day, years ago, I asked my congregation in the Hill District where each church member was when 9/11 happened. I remembered where I was, as did most everyone else, and we all shared our recollections. But when the conversation turned to a particular woman, she replied, “I don’t know.” “You don’t know?” I asked. …

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People Pittsburgh Immigration Profiles

What Do I Know? Khara Timsina

I was born in a small village in southern Bhutan, the second of nine children — five boys and four girls. Luckily, my siblings and I, and our parents, were able to emigrate to the West in 2009. My father died here in Pittsburgh in 2021, and my mother still lives locally, in Brentwood. But …

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People Pittsburgh Immigration Pittsburgh Tomorrow Profiles

What Do I Know? Guillermo Velazquez

My story begins in Mexico City. I am the youngest of eight children, and my father passed away from liver disease when I was 11. When someone in your life dies while you are still young, you don’t really understand what’s happening. All I knew was that I saw my father working, and then he …

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Andy Russell, Businessman and Former Steeler

I grew up with a father who had come over on the boat from Scotland. We moved around a lot. My parents convinced me that every move presented an opportunity to meet new and different people. By the time I entered college in 1959, my father was running Monsanto in Europe.I got a B.S. in …

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What Do I Know? Chris DeCardy

I was born in Urbana, Illinois, and grew up in Champaign, its “sister city,” about three hours south of Chicago. I spent my entire childhood there as the only child of a single mother. My folks were divorced when I was very young and, although my dad was in my life, my primary childhood influence …

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People Profiles

What Do I Know? Smokey Robinson

Everyone is born with a gift from God. Some people discover their gift, and use it to a positive end. Some discover their gift, but squander it. And others, for one reason or another, never discover their gift. I discovered mine very early in life. I was blessed with the gift of music, and worked …

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What Do I Know? Carol Brown

I was born in Columbus, Ohio. my father was the youngest of 10 children from an immigrant German family, and my mother hailed from a family of Irish immigrants. They fell in love very young and decided to get married, even though their parents did not approve. My mom was an amateur artist, and a …

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What Do I Know? Tim Parks

I was born in Louisiana, one of twin boys, in 1950, the product of my father’s second marriage. At the time, my mother was 33 years old and my dad was 61. My father’s father — my grandfather — was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1843 and, as a baby, came to this country to …

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People Profiles

What Do I Know? Sam Hazo

without a doubt, the course of my life was determined largely by my upbringing. My mother died when I was 6, and while my father was still around, my brother, Robert, and I were taken into the care of our mother’s parents and they raised us, with significant help from my mother’s aunt. My mother’s …

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People Profiles

What Do I Know? Dr. Robert M. Friedlander

“My mother’s father was born in 1905 in Pinsk, in the old Soviet Union. He was Jewish and had witnessed pogroms against his people, during which half of his family lost their lives. In fact, his father and some of his brothers were killed right in front of him. So, when he was 15, my …

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What Do I Know? Ed Gainey

I have to say that it feels good to be the mayor of my hometown, to be connected to the place where I was born and raised. My family is from the Hill District, but I was actually born in South Oakland. We were only the second black family to live on Lawn Street. My …

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What do I Know? Leslie Davis

My family is from New York, and my younger sister and I grew up in a suburban neighborhood on Long Island called “Five Towns,” which is about a 20-minute drive from Kennedy Airport. We were a typical 1970s family, except that my mother was an oral hygienist in a dentist’s office and loved her job. …

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An Exemplary Life – Sunil Wadhwani Tells His Story

I grew up in India and have lived in Pittsburgh for more than 40 years. I came here to study at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and then decided to stay. I started my first company here, which failed. My second company did better. It’s been an exhilarating ride — but the story starts a few …

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Christopher Howard: Living Life in the Moment

I come from a family of proud people who didn’t have a lot. My great-great-grandfather started out as an “enslaved human being” in Texas. Later, he and my grandfather were sharecroppers until my grandfather got a job in a factory. It’s kind of a Pittsburgh story: Man becomes “blue collar” because of factory work. My …

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Arthur Ziegler: The Power of Community

When I was growing up, my parents used to take me by trolley to East Liberty for a Saturday night treat, dinner at Gammon’s restaurant. In those days, East Liberty was considered our “second downtown” in Pittsburgh, and so I had a vague affiliation with the area. Many years later, I would learn what the …

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Andy Masich: Pittsburgh Has a Story to Tell

My father was an engineer and my mother was a trained actress who went to school at Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University. (Her first kissing scene was with Carl Betz, a Pittsburgher, who played the husband on “The Donna Reed Show.”) My parents met while doing community and summer-stock theatre. I have a wonderful …

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Cameron Heyward, Gridiron Philanthropist

I was born in Pittsburgh on May 6, 1989. My grandma still lives here. When I was young, we moved around a lot because my dad, Craig Heyward, played 11 years in the NFL for five different teams. When I was 6, we moved to Atlanta so that my dad could play for the Falcons, …

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